Detachable relay



Jan. 14, 1936.

J. F. MERKEL DETACHABLE RELAY Filed Feb. l1, 1.952E

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Patent-ed Jan.v 14, 1936A UNITED 'STATES PATENT OFFICE DETACHABLE ARELAY Joseph F. Merkel, Rochester, N. Y., assignor to General Railway Signal Company, Rochester,

'I'his invention relates in vgeneral to relays and more particularly refers toa relay of the t'elephone type which has means permitting quick detachment of the relaylproper from its external wire connections.

Railway centralized traii'lc controlling systems, such as described for example in the application of N. D. Preston et al., Ser. No. 455,304,` filed May 24, 1930', employ a number of relays of Way and consequently these relays must be of a compact and simple design in order to be made `by soldering vwires directly to the extending'ends of these spring'contacts. Inasmuch as theserelays must be removed from time to time 2O for maintenance or for replacement, considerable difiiculty is experienced in removing such wires andv making ,the necessary new soldered connections.

In view of these facts, it is proposed in ac- 25 cordance with the present invention to provide a relay which may be easily removed-from service without disturbing' theexternal circuit connections to such relay, thereby eliminating these inconveniences now experienced.

Other objects; purposes and characteristic fea. tures of the invention will appear as the de- .scription thereof progresses, duringwhch references will be made to the accompanying drawing which shows the invention inv a manner to make (it easily understood rather than with the view of showing the particular construction preferably employed in practice, and in which:-

Fig. 1 is an elevational side view ofJtWo relays according to the present invention mounted on shown in section; 'Fig. 2 isan elevational end view of Fig. -1 with parts shown in section; and,

Fig. 3 isa sectional detail view of a means proposed in accordance with this invention for connecting the relay contacts and their external circuit connections, and is taken on line 3--3of Fig. 2. Referring to Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 a conventional 1reutral telephone type relay R1 is shown mounted on an insulating supporting panel P f on the panel P engages the downturned ends along with almag'netic stickvtype of relay It2 such as disclosed in the application of VW. D. Halles et al, Ser. No. 508,659, filed January 14, 55 1931. These relays may be mounted in horizona single supporting panel with a part thereof tal and vertical banks on a panel P as shown in Fig.- 2 and of' course may be thus assembled in banks of units to form the number required for the particular applicatim These relays R1, R2, etc. have individual insu- -lating boards B1, B2, of acute angled parallelogram form, etc. attached to their extending cores -I by nuts 2. These extending cores I pass v through bosses on the board B which bosses are the telephone type to effect the selection and the control of various apparatus along the trackcounterbored to receive nuts (not shown) lwhich hold the top magnetic members 3 and contact arrangements C to the electro-magnet assemblies M. In these boards B are cut spaced rectangular holes 4 which taper toward the back thereof, there being one of such holes for eachcontact spring. Extensions of these contact springs`5 then pass through theseV holes II and are bent downwardly as shown in Fig. 3 to lie yparallel to the surface of tleboards B.

The panel P carries a plurality. of terminals T which are pressed into holes therein and a'rranged to register with the downturned ends..

.T which is spun in assembly to a diameter smaller than that of the shoulder Il.

The panel P has holes I3 therein which receive screws I4, upon-which are threaded bushings I5 with the screw I4 of sufficient length to extend through holes L6 inthe insulating board B there being one in each. acute angled corner of each board B. The insulating board B carrying its relayis then arranged to t over these screws I 4 and may be clamped in place by elonoi' the contactfsprings 5 `with the pointed contact member 8, and inasmuch as the space between the insulating board'B and the panel P is made short enough to force the pointed contact member 8 into the terminal T against the spring I0, a good electrical connection is thus assured between these terminals T and the contact springs 5. i

A suitable housing, not shown, may then be placed over the relays to keep out foreign matter such as dust and dirt and to protect the relays against damage.

armature I8 operated by the electro-magnet arrangement M which armature pivots about an oblique corner at the end of the magnetic member 3 and operates through a roundhead rivet I9 to, move an operating-arm 20 which pivots on round extending ends of a rectangular rod 2i riveted to the magnetic member 3. The ends of the arm 2li may be spread sufciently to be placed over these extending bearings of the pivot 2l and the front of this arm 20 is across the top to which insulated contac operating rods 22 are secured.

'I'he free end of this arm 20 has downturned ends which hold the armature i8 in placewhen assuming av de-energized position and a pin 23 securedto the magnetic member 3 projects through a slot in' the armature I8' to prevent lateral movement thereof. 'Ihis contact operating mechanism is considered necessaryin the present arrangement to enable a. more compact 'design of the relay linasmuch as it permits the contact springs to'be mounted farther toward the armature end of the relay than isl possible its external wire connections by simple tools and without the inconvenience of making the various soldering connections necessary in thepresent type of relays, and has the further advantage of permitting the connecting of lead wires tothe terminal panel P before assembling the relays thereon.

The above rather specific description of one form of the 'present inventionA is given solely by the way of example, and is not intended in any manner whatsoever in a limiting sense. It is also to be understood that 'various modifications,

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ated by said armature, spring contact means operated by said arm, Iand an insulating board carried by said relay'having spaced slots therein each receiving an extension of said spring contact means, said extensions being shaped to present a at surface parallel to, and bearing against, the face of said board.

2. In a relay, an electro-magnet, an armature operated by said electro-magnet, an arm oper- 'y ated bysaid armature, spring contact means oper- The relay operating mechanism as shown in Fig. 1 comprises an ridged described my invenoperated by said electro-magnet, an arm operated bysaid armature, spring-contact means operated by said arm, an insulating board carried by said relay having spaced slots therein each receiving an extension of said spring contact means, said extensions being shaped to present a flat surface parallel to the face of said board,

asupporting panel for said relay, insulated spaced connectingv means in said panel arranged in-20 register with the `flat surfaces of said contact spring extensions, each connecting means including; a hollow sleeve, means insulating the sleeve from the panel, a plunger within the sleeve and biased-outwardly therefrom, and co.- operating shoulders on thesleeve and Aplunger to limit the outward movement of the plunger mounting means arranged to clamp said relay to said supporting panel, the biasing means biasing said plunger against they flat surfaces of said contact spring extensions.

:4. In combination with a relay having at spring contacts of an insulating board secured to said relayL having spaced rectangular slots. therein receiving extending ends of said flat spring -contacts, fiat contact surfaces on said .board formed by Abending the ends of said spring contact extensions to -lie parallel to the surface of said board, a panel for supporting said relay, insulated spring biased contact points on said, panel arranged to register with said flat contact v surfaces, shoulders on the panel and contact points to limit the biased movement oi' the points and mounting means arranged to clamp said board to said panel whereby said flat con- 5 tact surfaces are forced against the spring biased contact points.

5. In a relay assembly. a plurality of relays. each relay having flat spring contacts extending through an individual insulating board, a sup-.50 porting panel common to all the relays, and having spaced insulated terminals with contact points biased to engage the ends of said spring I contacts, and means permitting convenient at.-

tachment and removal of said relays to and 55 from, said supporting panel, with the individual insulating boards each having the form of an acute angled parallelogram. and arranged in contacting parallel rows. and the boards of each row in c1ose contact with each otherv with the 0 edges of the boards of each row in staggered relation with respect to the edges of the boards of immediately adjacent rows, and'each having a fastening means passing through each ac'ute angled corner, whereby to conserve space and M prevent accidental 'displacement of the boards whenassembled.

JOSEPH MERKEL. 

